Chelsea v Liverpool Preview: Head To Head Player Stats

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Ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool, Castrol EDGE performance data compares some of the teams’ key players.

On Saturday, two of the Premier League’s top goalkeepers will be going head to head, with very little between them this season in terms of performance.

Liverpool’s Spanish glovesman, Pepe Reina, slightly edges things, posting a 69% saves to shots rate and registering 12 clean sheets so far, compared to Petr Cech’s 68% save rate and his haul of 10 clean sheets. However, interestingly, in the overall rankings in the top division for saves to shots rates, Reina only ranks in 10th place while Cech is 13th.

Petr Cech & José Reina – Premier League 2011/12

Premier League 11/12

Petr Cech

José Reina

Team

Chelsea

Liverpool

Appearances

34

33

Goals Conceded

39

34

Minutes per Goal Conceded

78

87

Clean Sheets

10

12

Saves

84

77

Saves per game

2.5

2.3

Saves to Shots ratio

68%

69%

Two of England’s midfield stalwarts will also go toe to toe in the centre of the pitch on Saturday, with both Chelsea’ Frank Lampard and Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard also hoping to impress new England manager Roy Hodgson on this high-profile occasion.

Blues’ star Lampard has played significantly more games this season than Gerrard. However, even in terms of minutes per goal as well as shooting accuracy and conversion rates, the former West Ham man comes out on top, netting an impressive 11 goals this season, more than any other central midfielder in the Premier League.

Creatively, the Blues’ dynamo has also been the more impressive of the two, with five assists to his name this season compared to Gerrard’s two.

Whichever of these two players has the better of things in midfield on Saturday could be key to the destination of the FA Cup trophy.

Frank Lampard & Steven Gerrard – Premier League 2011/12

Premier League 11/12

Frank Lampard

Steven Gerrard

Team

Chelsea

Liverpool

Appearances

30

18

Goals

11

5

Mins per goal

205

242

Shots

42

21

Shooting Accuracy

60%

52%

Chance Conversion

26%

24%

Goal Assists

5

2

Minutes per Chance Created

40.9

41.8

Total Passes

1,537

895

Pass Completion %

87%

83%

Fernando Torres seems to have finally rediscovered his shooting boots for Chelsea, netting the vital goal against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second-leg game at the Nou Camp and then following that up with a hat-trick against QPR in the league.

Despite the Spaniard’s poor start to the season, he still compares favourably to Liverpool’s struggling striker, Andy Carroll. The former Newcastle star’s rate of a goal every 471 minutes is significantly inferior to Torres’ figure of a goal every 299 minutes.

Torres has also provided far more assists than his fellow big-money buy at Liverpool, setting up four goals compared to Carroll’s haul of just one. However, the Liverpool does come out on top against Torres in terms of his rate of chances created.

Fernando Torres & Andy Carroll – Premier League 2011/12

Premier League 11/12

Fernando Torres

Andy Carroll

Team

Chelsea

Liverpool

Appearances

30

33

Goal Attempts

Goals

6

4

Mins per goal

299

471

Total Shots

46

67

Shooting Accuracy

43%

34%

Chance Conversion

13%

6%

Goal Assists

4

1

Mins per chance created

54

47

While Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has found himself under a lot of pressure this season due to a worryingly large number of disappointing results, Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo has made the most of his chance in the hot seat at Stamford Bridge. The Italian has been particularly successful in cup competitions since taking over in a caretaker role, winning seven of his eight cup games, drawing the other.